CAULIFLA AND KALE are the first female Super Saiyans in Dragon Ball Super. I was initially excited when I heard the news! I have been waiting for a female Super Saiyan ever since the introduction of Pan in Dragon Ball GT! I was hoping that they were like Cabba. Attitude wise. You know, quiet, reserved, respectful, regal in demeanor perhaps (like Frost), and humble since they had a different upbringing than the battle hardened Saiyans that we know and love. I thought, after Cabba’s introduction, that Universe 6 Saiyans were not only going to be the opposite of Universe 7 Saiyans physically, but also morally, and mentally.

MY ISSUES WITH THEM

I HATE CAULIFLA’S ATTITUDE: arrogant, pushy, over confidant, obnoxious, brash, and did I mention pushy? She reminds me of Chi Chi but with super powers, and I cannot stand Chi Chi. Specifically because she’s so over the top assertive and irritating. And like I said I was expecting a whole different take on the Universe 6 Saiyans.

I KNOW this also describes characters like Vegeta and young Trunks, but you see different layers of their personality throughout the series that I feel justify their arrogance. As for Caulifla, I would have liked to know more about her, her past and all, but from what I saw just in the anime, her arrogance felt unfounded and shallow.

NOW, I WAS PRETTY EXCITED for Kale because this is the first, canon, in universe version of Broly. Holy sh**! But I don’t like Kale’s reason for transforming. The whole sister love thing wore a bit thin, and never really felt like it was a good enough reason to reach the legendary form. The whole jealousy arc was irritating, especially during the moments during the tournament. I mean there’s other sh** going on! Fear for Caulifla’s life, fear losing her to this chaos, not just oh no! Goku is getting too close to my sister… Broly-status-rage engaged! Seriously? Oh, and I really wish she screamed, “KAKAROT!” at least once.

WHICH BRINGS ME to the back tingle. I just? I mean, boiling down one of, if not the, greatest transformations in the whole series to a small tickle in the back just undercuts the whole grandeur of ascending to such a pivotal stage, you know? In the series, thus far, every character reached the level of Super Saiyan by tapping into an extreme, emotional moment. Even Cabba tapped into it, and it was freaking amazing to witness! I wish that Caulifla and Kale had that same type of moment, it would have done wonders to make them more interesting. As it stands, their whole reason for fighting and transforming feels juvenile and cheap.

I THINK THEIR Super Saiyan transformation would have been better if they achieved it in the heat of battle, during the actual tournament. You could have seen them fighting, struggling, learning, growing, and eventually needing to reach down and pull from some deep well of emotion, or else lose the tournament, and lose each other in the process. It could have been poetic as fu**, cementing them as another well deserved addition to the roster of already bad a$$ Super Saiyans!

WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN really cool is if they had their OWN transformation, built upon their own life style, since their world is completely different than the battle trained, Frieza oppressed Saiyans of Universe 7. They’re smaller heroes of justice that protect the peace, and I think they deserved a transformation that reflects the world that they come from. Or if Universe 6 Saiyans were ALL capable of tapping into the Broly-esque Legendary Super Saiyan transformation! An entire race of Brolys which would have made them extremely dangerous and unique to the rest of the characters in the series. That would have been baller as F***! Can you imagine Cabba, Caulifla, and Kale as Legendary Super Saiyans, going berserk and decimating the entire tournament, at the same time?

ONE THING I REALLY ENJOYED seeing was Vegeta connect with Cabba in the first tournament. It’s one of my favorite moments! I was hoping to get more of that with Goku and Kale and Caulifla, so it was disappointing that there wasn’t more of that. Even a scene with them and Vegeta, the Prince of all Saiyans, would have been magically delicious. Because bonding moments, dude! I mean, this is the first time they’ve been able to meet live Saiyans, in a long time! Yeah, there was Vegeta’s brother, but no Saiyan has ever been able to fight toe to toe with them, with the exception of all the non cannon characters from the movies like Broly, Turles, and all that, of course. It was such a missed opportunity.

THE OTHER THING that irked me is that they had the ability to stand up to Super Saiyan Blue? That’s a whole other topic about the power scaling issue in Dragon Ball Super. But I was like really? Really!? This is a newly found power, achieved by going to the level of gods and destroyers, and everyone is just batting Goku and Vegeta around like they’re nothing. It would have been cool if, instead of just being more powerful than blue, if the other opposing characters had another power that negated or exploited a loophole within the Super Saiyan God transformation. Or at the very least, maybe if the fighters in the tournament were people from each Universe that trained and achieved the level of a god? I mean, mere mortals, at any level, able to stand toe to toe with god-tier-power just felt weird? Not specifically a Kale and Caulifla problem (I’m looking at you Jiren!) but I felt like it was worth mentioning.

WHICH IS ANOTHER THING? Once again, not much to do with Caulifla and Kale specifically, but Super lacked a lot of new special moves? I mean I really enjoyed Dragon Ball Super as a whole, but that’s one glaring omission that I noticed. Especially for the main cast like Krillin, Piccolo, Gohan, and all.

ALTHOUGH, THIS ISN’T NEW. Power wise, I mean. Being powerful for the sake of being powerful is a mainstay of the series. I mean back in Dragonball it took Master Roshi 50 years to perfect the Kamehameha, and Goku learns it in an instant. Goku also, as a freaking child, takes a hail of bullets from Bulma’s gun and survives. Goku goes from weaker than Raditz, to training and becoming stronger than the Ginyu Force and all of Frieza’s elite henchmen. And not to mention Goten and Trunks just become Super Saiyans because they can. Oh, and Gohan sits for a good bit and becomes the most powerful warrior at the time. I know, but I can still be disappointed…

WHAT I DID LIKE

THE FINAL BATTLE with Ultra Instinct Goku and Kefla was freaking amazing. Once again though, Kefla was strong enough to stand up to Ultra Instinct? I know they explained that it was because Goku wasn’t fully in control of it, but still, what the actual FU**?! It was still one of the coolest fights in the series so I can forgive that.

IT WAS AT THIS TIME in the series that I realized they remind me of someone? A lead that is brash, arrogant, and full of themselves? And a secondary character that’s shy, and follows the other without question? AND, and they fuse to become even more powerful and arrogant, with little to no training? They’re just the female version of Trunks and Goten, and Kefla is just Gotenks! After I figured that out, I started to like them a lot more! Gotenks is one of my favorite characters in the whole show. But I still wish they transformed for other reasons.

WHY DON’T THEY all dress like Cabba? You know, how every Saiyan in Goku and Vegeta’s world wore similar types of armor? It would have been cool to see Caulifla and Kale dressed in armor variants similar to what Cabba was wearing. That might be fun to explore… maybe I’ll draw that someday just for fun! That’s not to say I don’t like their designs (they’re pretty cute son!) but it made them feel out of place.

IN THE MANGA they delve a bit more into Caulifla’s character, and it is a lot more interesting! She has an extended introduction as a bad a$$ leader, and even has a surprised moment when she battles Cabba and witnesses the Super Saiyan transformation for the first time! The Caulifla in the anime was never surprised by anything, so it was nice to see a bit of nuance when she was astonished by an other world transformation. It’s a brief, wonderful touch, but it adds so much to not only her, but Cabba as well, as characters. There’s a sense of struggle and determination that’s missing from the anime.

SO YEAH, Caulifla and Kale. What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments below! I was disappointed with them. But that’s just my opinion! If you agree, cool, if not, no worries you can love them if you want to. It doesn’t matter to me. We all have our own tastes, and that’s quite all right!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR READING! Please like, subscribe, and all that good social media jazz, and do share this blog post with your friends! As always, I’m J.J. and I will be back next time with another post. You rock! Please take care, God bless. Bye~!

Share this:

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

Published by Book Puppet

Book because I love books and puppet because I manipulate the written word and the pen like the strings of a marionette.
Or you can call me J.J. Filipino. Writer. Artist. Full time dad. Husband. I talk about geeky and nerdy things. I write, draw, do reviews, play video games, sometimes animate.
I draw and tell stories at:
www.handofrel.com
I write and blog at:
www.bookpuppet.com
I love to create stuff.
View all posts by Book Puppet